Tenant Protection Unit Audits

Created in 2012, the Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) is a specialized unit operating under the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and it is focused on auditing and investigating property subject to rent regulation laws. TPU has the ability to impose penalties for failure to comply with rent laws and HRC orders.This unit often initiates its own investigation and does not require a tenant’s complaint to be filed with DHCR. Since this unit’s inception, many landlords and property managers have been subject to subpoenas requiring the submission of extensive records by the landlord to justify the rent charged for a particular apartment or apartments during a particular period of time. The records demanded in a TPU audit are extensive and can be overwhelming. Landlords who don’t maintain detailed records of improvements and renovations done to each apartment and cannot produce these documents upon a TPU audit are subject to decision ordering the rent be reduced to what the landlord can legally prove the rent to be and require the landlord to refund the tenants the amount the TPU determines to be a rent overcharge. The TPU can also impose penalties. Since this new unit was created in 2012, our office has successfully represented many landlords who have been subject to TPU audits. Call us today at (914) 965-1011 for assistance